An integrated circuit (IC) typically is an electronic circuit manufactured by diffusion of metal elements into the surface of a semiconductor material. Integrated circuits are used in various electronic devices today. Computers, cellular phones, and so forth are some example devices which include integrated circuits and which have been made possible, at least in part, due to low cost of production of such circuits.
For many applications, IC chips are packaged before being placed on circuit boards. Materials used in chip manufacturing and packaging have different properties and behaviors, and various temperature changes and mechanical stresses can lead to stress or damage in an end product. For example, stresses can cause damage to the IC chip. In particular, certain stresses can cause cracks in the IC chip, or more specifically, in a layer of passivation within the IC chip.
Various attempts have been made to identify specific causes of such stresses and to address ways to avoid the stresses. For example, some package stress relief designs restrict the use of the areas which are more heavily affected by stress. Some attempts to reduce stress have proposed the use of various different materials or the use of defined packaging methods, such as wire bonding and tape automated bonding, including single-point thermosonic bonding and gang or thermocompression bonding. Different types of bonds or packaging can have a different effect on the stresses on the chip. However, some designs still exhibit areas of high stress with resultant cracking.